Every time you apply for a vehicle or driver’s licence, you pay a transaction fee – but how is it calculated? The RTMC refuses to tell us, but we won’t give up. 
For over two years, OUTA has been pushing for transparency, demanding that the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) disclose this information. Instead of answers, we’ve been met with legal delays and secrecy. The entity even decided to ignore the Information Regulator’s order to release the documents, and is now challenging the ruling in court.

The RTMC, a state-owned entity under the Department of Transport, is mandated to improve road safety. Its records reveal a massive accumulation of funds from these transaction fees. In 2023/24, a total of R948.691 million (nearly R1 billion) was collected from transaction fees. That year, the government grant to RTMC was R220.104 million, and the RTMC ended the year with a surplus of R141.910 million, bringing its accumulated surplus to R1.090 billion. 

What are they doing with all this money? Bear in mind that these fees are in addition to those charged by provinces for the same services. 

Sadly, this isn’t the first time OUTA exposed the RTMC’s reluctance to be transparent.  They previously claimed to have research on extending driver’s licence validity – only to admit in 2024 that it never existed (see here).

If this entity has nothing to hide, why go to such lengths to block access? The public deserves to know where their money is going, and OUTA won’t stop fighting for answers and complete transparency.

See the timeline for our work on this here.

Read more about our battle for transparency around transport matters here.